5 Key Reasons Why Someone Gossips

To get a feeling of superiority

Envy

People who envy other person’s growth, success, popularity or lifestyle gossip to hurt the person and get a temporary good feeling.

To gain attention

A person craves to be the center of attraction by spreading malicious stories.

To get a sense of connection and intimacy

Gossip seems to be one of the easiest and fastest ways to get connected to another person. The secretive & exclusive nature of revealing about something or someone that’s a bit disruptive and judgemental creates a momentary vulnerability and trust between the two parties. But, this doesn’t hold for a long time as its not a meaningful connection.

Out of anger or unhappiness

A person when angry on someone or unhappy because they didn’t get promotion, disagreed with a decision or change in direction etc., gossips to get a sense of retribution.

5 Proven Ways To Get Rid Of Gossip

Be a role model

Don’t engage in gossip and be a good role model. If someone gossips with you, be assertive, walk away or just change the topic of the discussion. Be strict about your values and principles and it will send a hard message to the gossiper that you are not interested in this behavior.

Confront & kill the gossip

As a leader, its key to shut down gossip asap before it becomes toxic and out of your control whether its about you or about others.

Find out who were involved in the gossip and speak to them immediately after the incident in private. Keep calm and handle the situation politely & professionally.

Help the person understand why his/her behaviour is inappropriate & how it impacts others in the workplace.

Find out why the person exhibited this behaviour and what’s bothering them.

Help the person come up with an action plan to fix it. If the action is on you as a leader, take it up and fix it.

Explain about the consequences if the behaviour continues.

Report the gossip

Its important to keep your work environment toxic free for the good of your own and of your colleagues. If you notice an office gossip, report it to your manager or HR whoever is appropriate and let them handle the situation.

Convert a negative gossip into a positive action

Make it a point to talk about success of people and inspire others. If people around you notice this behaviour, they tend to follow you.

For instance: If someone makes a remark about another colleague like “John is consistently not delivering his project on time”, you could say “He did a good job in responding to system issues and communication. Do you think we can help him achieve success in this too?”

Set the culture

As a leader, educate your team about the negative consequences of gossips. Give them confidence that they can approach you at any point in time.

Create an open and transparent culture. Share the good news and especially bad news along with a plan of action to fix it and if possible, get your team to own it.